Bound to Her Desert Captor

by Michelle Conder

  He let out a rough breath that brought her eyes back to his. ‘You have no idea what you’ve done, do you?’ he muttered.

  Something in his tone stayed her. ‘Should I?’

  ‘No. I suppose not.’ He dragged a hand through his hair, mussing it further. ‘In your world, posting a provocative image on social media would barely raise a ripple. Here it is very different. Here we have morals and ethics.’

  ‘We have morals and ethics in America,’ Regan said a little defensively. Well, they used to, at least, and most still did.

  ‘Be that as it may, what you have done, Miss James,’ he said with palpable restraint, ‘is create a diplomatic crisis I am now in a position to have to fix.’

  ‘A diplomatic crisis? I don’t see how.’

  ‘I have probably the most important summit my country has ever hosted starting tomorrow and a raft of people wondering who the American woman is I’m entertaining in my palace.’

  ‘You’re hardly entertaining me.’

  ‘Further, I am now without an escort for the next four days.’

  ‘I fail to see what this has to do with me.’

  ‘Then let me explain it to you.’ His blue eyes glittered down into hers. ‘Since you have created this issue, you will become the escort you made me lose.’

  ‘I didn’t make you lose anyone,’ she denied hotly. ‘And there’s no way I’m going to be your escort.’ She gave a shaky laugh. Just the thought of it made her hot. ‘Do you know what people would think if they saw us together?’

  His eyes turned smoky and he leant against the back of the sofa, one bare foot crossed over the other, his eyes on her denim shorts. ‘I think that horse has already bolted, habiba.’

  Regan swallowed heavily. ‘Well, I don’t intend to make it worse by being seen on your arm. And anyway, this is all really your fault for bringing me here in the first place.’

  ‘I agree. But that horse has also bolted, and now we deal with the consequences.’ His eyes turned hard. ‘Usually Milena would step in during these situations, but we both know why she can’t do that, don’t we?’

  Regan grimaced. ‘My brother had nothing to do with your sister going AWOL! But okay,’ she added quickly when she noticed the betraying muscle clench in his jaw. ‘I think the best thing we can do now is leave things as they are. I won’t cause any more problems,’ she promised. ‘And soon enough everyone will forget all about my little photo.’

  ‘No one will forget you’re here after that little photo. But even if they did, that doesn’t solve all of my problems.’

  ‘Surely you have women on speed dial all over the world who could play hostess—escort—for you. Probably any one of them would jump at the chance to do it.’

  ‘I’m sure you’re right.’ His gaze travelled over her in blatant male appraisal. ‘But the women I have on speed dial fulfil a very different function from hostessing, habiba.’ His lazy drawl left her in no doubt as to what that function was. ‘And I don’t want to spend the weekend with a woman who might think that I’m more interested in her than I am. With you I know that won’t happen.’

  ‘Oh, you can count on that.’

  A smile played around the edges of his mouth, amusement lighting his eyes. ‘Why is it you’re the only person who ever has the gumption to argue with me?’

  ‘Probably if someone else had we wouldn’t be in this dilemma because you’d have developed a sense of reason.’

  ‘Oh, we’d be in it.’

  ‘You might be,’ she said irritably. ‘But I wouldn’t. I work at a prestigious private school. I have my reputation to think about, and once this is all over I’ll be returning to my normal life and I’m not doing that as some hot desert king’s mistress!’

  ‘Hot?’

  ‘As in temperature,’ she said, her face flushing. ‘You’re like a furnace.’ He laughed, which only irritated her more. ‘Probably my friend, Penny, has already left me a tonne of messages on my phone asking me what’s going on. Not that I’d know about those.’

  ‘She has. My staff have replied on your behalf.’

  ‘Oh...!’ Her lips pressed into a flat line. ‘I promised myself I wasn’t going to let you make me angry again, but I’m struggling.’

  ‘Good to know. And I understand your dilemma.’

  ‘You do?’

  ‘Yes. Which is why I won’t present you as my partner, or escort. I’ll present you as my fiancée.’

  ‘Your what?’

  Ignoring her shocked outburst, he paced back and forth. ‘Yes, this is a much better solution. It will not only satisfy the curiosity of those wondering why you’re in my palace, but, since the photo of you in my arms didn’t bring your brother running to your rescue, news of our betrothal might do that job too.’

  ‘You’re as ruthless as a snake,’ she spluttered. ‘But it won’t work. Chad would never believe it.’

  ‘He doesn’t have to believe it.’ His bright blue eyes connected with hers. ‘He just has to bring my sister back unharmed.’

  Regan frowned. If Chad knew she was engaged to the King there was no doubt he’d come running. And maybe that was for the best. Then this whole situation would be resolved and she could go home. ‘And if it doesn’t work?’

  ‘It has to work.’

  ‘Why? Because your mightiness has decreed that it will?’

  He stopped pacing to stare at her. ‘You like challenging me, don’t you, Regan?’ His gaze lingered on her lips and her pulse jumped erratically in her throat.

  ‘Yes, you should look wary,’ he murmured. ‘Right now I want to put my hands on you and I’m not sure if I want to make it pleasurable or painful.’

  Regan jumped away from him, her insides jittery. ‘We were talking about my brother,’ she reminded him huskily.

  ‘The whole reason you’re here.’

  He slowly prowled towards her, crowding her to the point where all she could think about was him. How tall he was. How big. How the stubble on his jaw would feel beneath her fingertips.

  ‘Stop thinking of our betrothal in the romantic sense,’ he advised. ‘It’s a business arrangement and it’s temporary.’

  ‘Two things you’re obviously exceptionally good at.’

  His jaw hardened and his gaze dropped to her mouth. ‘I’m good at a lot of things, Regan, and if you’re not careful you’ll find out which of those things I’m particularly good at.’

  Regan’s mouth went dry at the sensual threat and once more she was acutely aware that he still hadn’t buttoned his shirt.

  He shook his head. ‘Your desperation not to marry me serves you well, but it only reinforces that this is the right thing to do. My personal aide has been insisting for years that I need a partner at these major events, and having you by my side will mitigate any potential fallout from your ill-timed photo—’

  ‘My ill-timed photo?’

  ‘—And stop any untoward gossip from developing about the Western woman residing in my palace.’

  ‘Residing?’ She huffed out an astonished breath. ‘You mean imprisoned.’

  ‘If you were imprisoned you’d be in jail.’

  ‘But this is all one-way. This is all about you and what you want. But what about what I want?’

  ‘You’re not in any position to make demands.’

  ‘Actually, I am.’ She threw back her head and stared at him. ‘If you want my co-operation this weekend then I want something too.’

  His body went preternaturally still and Regan got the distinct impression he thought she was going to ask him for money or jewels or something. ‘You must have really dated some shallow women if the look of dread that just crossed your face is anything to go by.’

  His eyes flashed blue sparks at her. ‘Don’t keep me waiting, Miss James; what is it you want?’

  ‘A deal.’

  �
�Excuse me?’

  ‘Since deals are the only thing you seem to understand, I’ll make one with you. I’ll agree to be your escort, or rather, your partner this weekend if you let Chad go when he returns.’

  ‘Absolutely not.’ He swung away from her and then back. ‘Your brother has my sister. That will not go unpunished.’

  ‘But you don’t really know what’s happened or why they’re together.’

  ‘I will. And when I do your brother will be in serious trouble.’

  ‘Fine; then you’ll have to pull out your little black book and explain why you’ve locked me up some other way.’

  He stalked over to the window and dug his hands into his pockets. Regan did her best not to notice the way the fabric of his trousers pulled tight across his well-defined glutes.

  They’re just muscles, she told herself, just like the ones in his arms, his chest, his thighs...

  ‘Deal.’

  What?

  Her head came up, a betraying blush burning her face when she realised he had caught her staring.

  ‘I’m agreeing with you. You become my fiancée for three nights and four days and when your brother returns, as long as my sister is unharmed, I’ll let him leave the country. Unharmed.’ He prowled towards her and she unconsciously backed up a step at the light of battle in his eyes. ‘Rest assured, though.’ He stopped just short of touching her. ‘If my sister is hurt in any way I’ll kill him, are we clear?’

  ‘Rest assured,’ Regan fired back at him. ‘If my brother has caused your sister harm in any way you won’t have to kill him—I will. But he won’t have,’ she added softly. ‘Chad isn’t like that. He’s not a macho kind of guy who takes what he wants. He’s kind and considerate.’

  ‘Unlike me?’ he suggested silkily.

  ‘I didn’t say that.’

  ‘You didn’t have to, habiba; your face is very expressive.’

  God, she hoped not.

  ‘Like for the last half hour,’ he murmured, taking another step towards her, ‘you’ve been wondering what it would be like to kiss me.’

  Regan sputtered out some unintelligible noise that might have had the words ‘massive’ and ‘ego’ in it, her hands coming up between them to press firmly against his hard, naked chest. She bit her lip against the urge to slide them up that warm wall of muscle and twine them together at the nape of his neck. ‘You’re wrong,’ she husked.

  A light came into his eyes that turned her lips as dry as his dusty desert land. ‘I’m not wrong. Your pupils are dilated and your pulse is hammering, begging for me to put my mouth on it.’

  His words caused hot colour to surge into her face. ‘That’s fear.’

  His eyes lifted to hers. ‘Fear of what?’ he asked softly. ‘That I will kiss you, or that I won’t?’

  Regan started to shake her head, a soft cry escaping her lips when his hands threaded into her hair and framed her face. His gaze held hers for an interminable second and then something coalesced behind his blue eyes and his head lowered to hers.

  Regan’s body jerked against his, her hands gripping his wrists with the intention of dragging them away from her, but it didn’t happen. His mouth moved on hers with such heat and skill she went still beneath the onslaught. He gave a husky groan as his tongue traced the line between her lips, urging them to part. Sensation rocked through her and without any conscious thought her lips were shaping themselves to his, her mouth matching his hungry intensity.

  With consummate skill, he completely controlled the kiss, one of his hands tunnelling further into her hair, angling her head so he could deepen the contact, the other pressed to the small of her back, urging her lower body to fit against his.

  At the feel of his rock-hard desire, Regan moaned, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her senses spinning out of control as she moved against him, her neck arching for the glide of his lips and tongue scraping against her skin.

  He made a growling noise in the back of his throat that she felt deep in her pelvis, making her ache.

  ‘Regan, I...’ His lips returned to hers, his tongue exploring her mouth with a carnal intimacy that shocked her, the kiss going from hot to incendiary within seconds.

  Regan heard herself moan, felt awash with sensations she couldn’t contain. Her breasts were heavy and aching, desperate for relief, and her pelvis felt hollow. Beyond thought or reason her hands kneaded his shoulders, her fingers pushing aside his shirt to stroke his heated flesh.

  He vibrated against the contact and his own hands must have moved, because suddenly he was cupping her breast, his thumb strumming the hard nub of her nipple, drawing a keening sound from deep inside her. She felt the need in him ramp up, his movements hungrier, more urgent as his hands skimmed over her body, his fingers tugging on her blouse to release the row of buttons, revealing the upper swell of her breasts to his lips and teeth.

  Regan’s hands gripped fistfuls of his hair, urging him closer. ‘Jaeger... Jag. Please...’ His name on her lips seemed to shift something in both of them. He lifted his mouth from her body, his breathing hard, his eyes almost black.

  She sucked in a breath, tried to clear her head. She saw shock register on his face and knew instantly that he regretted what had just happened.

  ‘Why did you do that?’ She touched her fingers to her tender lips, swollen from the force of his kisses.

  His eyes narrowed on her, somehow a lot clearer than hers. ‘I’ve wanted to taste you since the first moment I met you. Now I have.’ He stepped further away from her, his eyes mirroring the mental distance he was placing between them as well as the physical. ‘Tomorrow you will be provided with a wardrobe that should cover everything you need for the next four days. As long as you stick to your side of the agreement, I’ll stick to mine.’

  With that he pivoted on his feet and walked out of the door.

  As soon as it clicked closed Regan let out a pent-up breath and pressed her hand to her abdomen.

  ‘I’ve wanted to taste you since the first moment I met you. Now I have.’

  Her hand trembled as she pushed her hair back from her face.

  Was he serious?

  How could he kiss her like that and then walk away? How was that possible when she felt as if her world had been tipped upside down and shaken loose?

  Well, because he must have kissed a thousand women to the half a dozen men she had kissed, most of which had occurred in high school before her parents had died. She’d never been great with boys and as she’d matured she hadn’t been great with men either. The ones who liked her she had zero interest in, and the ones she thought had potential were not interested in a woman raising a teenage boy. Even if that boy was her brother. No way had anyone ever kissed her with the sensual expertise she’d just experienced with King Jaeger. But maybe kings were good at everything. Jag certainly claimed to know everything.

  She shook her head, pride fortifying her spine. If he could walk away from that kiss without a backward glance then so could she.

  Unconsciously her fingers went to her mouth and stroked down the side of her neck along the same path his lips had taken. When she realised what she was doing she dropped her hand and picked up her camera.

  Reliving whatever it was that had just happened between them was not conducive to forgetting it. And forgetting it was exactly what she needed to do. She wasn’t here for him. She was here for Chad. And now a deal she’d made on the fly.

  A deal with the devil.

  A deal she knew she could never go through with.

  CHAPTER SIX

  JAG KNEW AS soon as he spotted her in the small anteroom beside the grand ballroom that she was going to renege on their deal. And really he should let her. He didn’t really give a damn about having a plus-one for the weekend. He’d done hundreds of these events before on his own. What would one more matter? And as to her unexplained presence
in the palace...that was tougher to handle, but not impossible.

  He paused for a moment, just watching her. She was pacing back and forth, her teeth delicately worrying her lower lip. A lower lip he had taken gently between his teeth not twenty-four hours earlier.

  She looked astonishingly beautiful dressed in a slender column of burnished copper silk overlaid with a sheer organza bodice that accentuated the long line of her neck and hinted at the delicate swell of her breasts. The colour perfectly matched her hair, as he’d known it would, and turned her skin to polished ivory. Skin that was as soft as it looked.

  Regan paused in front of the ornate mirror above the fireplace, tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear. Their gazes met in the mirror, her wide cinnamon eyes bright and lovely, her luscious lips painted a subtle pink. With her hair piled on top of her head in an elaborate style, she looked like an ethereal queen from a bygone era, and in that moment he knew he couldn’t release her from their deal. Not yet.

  Unwilling to analyse his motivations for that decision too closely, he leaned against the doorjamb. ‘It’s too late to change your mind, jamila,’ he said gruffly.

  She turned towards him with a suddenness that made the skirt of her gown swirl around her body, outlining her long legs before resettling. ‘How do you know I want to change my mind?’ she asked, her eyes gliding down over his body as if she couldn’t help herself. He knew the feeling.

  ‘Body language.’

  He only hoped she wasn’t as good at reading it as he was. If she was she’d know his was shouting, I want you. Now.

  Uneasy at the depth of his primal response to her, he reminded himself that he’d already had this discussion with himself in the shower and it wasn’t going to happen. He was not going to touch her again, or kiss her, and if that was all he could think about, well, that was just too bad. He wouldn’t allow himself to complicate an already complicated situation. It wasn’t logical. Just as kissing her hadn’t been. One minute he’d been staring into her beautiful, expressive eyes and the next his hands were in her hair and his lips were soldered to hers.